The implementation of a program innovation in a community mental-health center: theory and practice

This paper describes the innovation of a partial-hospital program into an ongoing community mental-health center which is under the auspices of the department of psychiatry housed in a city general hospital. The role of the environment and structure of this mental health system in facilitating and hindering implementation is discussed. Resistance from within the program and problems associated with institutionalization of the implementation are noted. The experience of innovation is linked with theory.